Aura Guardian: Secret of Altomare
by AltoGuardian
Summary: Esteban, one of the last Aura Guardians, is on a journey to Altomare. There, a mysterious cult plans to use Latias and the Soul Dew for their own gain. It is up to Esteban to discover the True Secret of Altomare first to save the city and the world. R
1. Altomare in the Morning

**UPDATE: The only changes to this chapter is that I took out some unnecessary information. There were also small things I added to it.**

**Hello. This is my first story, so no spams or flames. Please Review, I need to know how I can Improve.  
Disclaimer to prevent lawsuit: I don't own any of this except my OC, which as of this chapter is Esteban.**

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**Chapter One:  
Altomare in the Morning**

"Hey, sir, wake up. We are almost to Altomare."

"Don't call me 'sir'. My name is Esteban," I yawned. I opened my eyes, gave a yawn, and took a look around. I was on a motor boat to the city of Altomare, and I was almost there. It was beautiful with the rising sun giving it a look that would put the most masterful paintings to shame. The cool morning and pleasant sea breeze put me to sleep on my way there, but the million different shades of red and orange, the sound of the sea, and the view of the City of Water woke me up. "Beautiful morning, isn't it?" I said cheerfully.

"I've lived here for fifty years, and I am still not tired of the view," said the boat driver. "It gets more beautiful with time. I am glad you came in the morning when the beauty is at its peak. By the way, what brings you to Altomare? There are no competitions or events, and you don't look like a tourist or even a trainer for that matter. Well, there is that gala at the museum in a couple days, but that's only for locals."

He was right. I am no tourist. I had on large, yet comfortable, hiking boots. I was wearing long, brown, baggy pants with about fifteen pockets. I wore a loose-fitting, black t-shirt and a loose-fitting, brown duster coat over my shirt. I also wore a brown broad-rimmed hat. Yes I know, I wear too much brown, but they are extremely comfortable. I had a rather large backpack which I use to hold my miscellaneous crap among other necessities. I also wore a gold cross around my neck. It is very special to me. It would be hard to say what I looked like, but I guess "mysterious, western wanderer" fits the best. After all, that is what I am.

As for my physical features, I was about six feet tall. I had hair that was somewhere between short and medium length, and it's black. When people talk about how I look, what the say is the most interesting are my eyes. They're red. Not the "I'm an evil psychopath that wants to commit bloody murder" red, but it's a color that people can't really describe. It does creep out a lot of people that I meet, though. They mostly associate red eyes with evil, and they've never seen a naturally red-eyed person. I never made many friends, but my Teacher, whom I traveled with until recently, was the closest I ever got to a best friend. She always said my eyes were deep, dark, and mysterious, but caring and kind at the same time.

I also had some pretty unusual things with me. One would be a trainer's belt (where one would usually put their pokémon) around my pants, but mine was empty because I don't have any. That is very unusual for someone who is twenty-one years old and traveling the world, because everyone else I met my age had at least one pokéball on their belt. Second and thirdly, I had a rather large staff by my side and a pair of snug fingerless gloves. They might not be too unusual if it weren't for the rune-shaped figures that were all over my staff and a little bit on my gloves. They are my most important items because they are what I use to focus my energy, my aura.

As I thought about how to answer the man's question, I stared into the water and saw dozens of water pokémon swimming in it. I pulled out a black rock from one of my pockets, and I started fiddling with it. It's a little project of mine I've been working on.

"A friend recommended coming here. Said it is a great this time of year to come, and I am an artist," I answered. It wasn't exactly a lie. Using aura is an art that no one can ever fully master. However, I am one of the last people on Earth who have the power to manipulate and control aura. It is true that it was my Teacher who told me to come to Altomare, but all she said was to go there when she dies.

"An artist, eh?" he said. I hoped that being an "artist" would explain my nontraditional appearance. He then laughed a bit and said, "About a fourth of the people in Altomare are artists. This city attracts them. It really is the best time of year. Good luck with whatever it is you're doing."

"Thanks," I said, and I continued fiddling with my rock. A minute late out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black speed boat race towards the city. I looked carefully at it as it raced by. I only saw one person with long red hair in it, and she was in a hurry. The wake almost rocked our boat over. "Darn kids!" the boat driver yelled with his fist in the air, and then he sighed. "No one takes time to slow down and look at the world once in a while. At least an artist like you could appreciate the world."

"Well, you only live once," I said thoughtfully after a minute, although I was still focused on my rock.

"All the more reason to enjoy the world and the time you have left instead of speeding right through it."

"Touché," I said, "Touché." After a few minutes the boat reached the edge of Altomare. The city only had streets of water, so the boat could have gone into the city, but I wanted to get off at the dock and enjoy the city. I also wanted to look for any clues as to why my Teacher told me to come here. Besides, when traveling through Altomare, gondola beats motor boat any day.

"Goodbye," I said as the man was heading back to the mainland, "and thanks for ride and advice mister, uh, I never got your name!"

"It's Raphael, and it's no problem. Goodbye Esteban" He said as he waved back. I watched him as he drove to the strip of land just at the horizon.

'_Well that was interesting_,_'_ I thought. Raphael was right, life is to be enjoyed, but I had a feeling that that pleasant boat ride would be my last bit of true relaxation and enjoyment for a while. _'I wish I know what I am supposed to do,'_ I thought.

I put my rock back in my pocket, and I looked at the large canal next to me. There were two columns with what looked like statues two very special pokémon on top. They look like a cross between a dragon, a bird, and a jet plane. I didn't recognize them. I walked over to one column and read an inscription. It read, "The Eon Pokémon. Guardians of Altomare".

'_Guardians,'_ I thought, _'perhaps they are the clue I was looking for.'_

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**What do you think? Please review. Next chapter should be up soon.**


	2. The Guardians of Altomare

**UPDATE: Not much changed here. I added the Italian document as one of the things Esteban found on the boat. That's about it.**

**Hi! This is the second chapter of Aura Guardian. I would like to thank all the people who read my story (Last count: 2) for reading and reviewing it. I hope that those (2) people who have read Ch 1, will like this chapter. Sorry the story starts out a little slow, but it gets better in later chapters. Enjoy!**

**Usual disclaimer: I don't own pokémon, obviously. I do own my OCs: Esteban, Teacher, and the Red-head (name will be revealed in a later chapter).**

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**Chapter Two: The Guardians of Altomare**

I started to wander the city. It is basically a giant maze for anyone who doesn't live here. By giant maze, I mean impossible to navigate. I made lefts and rights and this-a-ways and that-a-ways through the alleyways of the city. In a couple hours, I somehow ended up back at the docks and statues. "What the…?" I said aloud,"How in the world did I get back here?" I sighed and sat on a bench beside the statue of one of the Guardians. I looked at them more closely. At their bases were ornate engravings. There was something about those statues that bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I wanted to look at them more, but I decided that I better find my way around the city.

It was too early in the day for anyone to be out in the streets, so I couldn't ask for directions. I looked over to the boats tied to the dock. One of them was the black speed boat I saw earlier. I decided to check it out, and it paid off. There were some rolled up papers lying in a bag on the floor of the boat. I pulled out one and looked at it. The title read "volontà e testamento dell'ultimo". I looked at the rest of the paper, and it was all in Italian.

"I can't read Italian," I said aloud. I put it back where I found it. On the passenger seat I found a map of Altomare. It didn't look special or anything so I decided to take it. There were a couple places circled on the map, but I thought that if the Red-head was in such a hurry, then that person would have their own map with them right now.

The map was extremely useful. I was actually able to go somewhere this time. While looking for any sign of these mysterious guardians, I stopped by a local café that just opened for breakfast. I had a freshly made breakfast roll and a cup of Italian style coffee. I was walking down the street taking a sip of my coffee, when someone bumped into me, making me spill a bit of my scalding hot coffee onto myself.

"Sir, out of my way!" said a female voice as I was trying to suppress a yelp of coffee induced agony. I looked up. The speeding Red-head from before was running at breakneck speed. She went up and turned a corner.

"What is her problem?" I thought aloud.

"She probably just wants to use the bathroom or something." I jumped. A man around my age was standing right behind me holding a couple napkins. "Sorry, my name's Ross, and here are some napkins for you coffee. I don't think I have seen you around here before."

I gathered myself back together, wiped my pants dry, and replied, "No, I just got here. Thanks for the napkins. Do you know her?"

"No I don't, she is not from around here either." Ross replied. We started walking around town talking while I was finishing my roll and coffee. I kept an eye out for anything unusual.

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"…So, I was this close to winning, but she just beat me by a hair, literally," he said while putting his thumb and index finger a millimeter apart. "It might have been one of the few times I lost the Tour de Altomare, but it was definitely the most fun." Ross was describing a race that happened five years ago. "That Misty was quite the racer. After the race, I showed her and her friends around town and told them about the Guardians."

That caught my interest. I finished my roll and coffee, and I asked, "Guardians? I saw statues near the docks, but I have no idea what they're depicting. All it said was that they were the Eon pokémon and that they were guardians."

"Well it's a good story. Many years ago, an evil trainer resurrected two fossils, an aerodactyl and a kabutops. He terrorized the city."

"Wow, resurrection? How did he manage that?" I asked. That "trainer" sounded pretty powerful to raise the dead.

"No one knows how, but we thought that all was lost. That is, until the Guardians came. Their names are Latios and Latias. They defeated the trainer, but Latios used all his energy to save the city. It was too much for him, and he died. All he left for the city was his two children and the Soul Dew. With the trainer gone, the two pokémon returned to being fossils. It is said that as long as the Soul Dew stays safe, the city is safe as well. They built the DMA, or Defense Mechanism of Altomare, in order to protect the city in the future. Thankfully, it has never been used. I don't know if it's true, but it's a good story."

"Yeah, a very good story," I said. That trainer sounded a lot like some sort of rogue Aura Guardian. How else would he have the power to resurrect the dead? That Soul Dew also sounds interesting. Perhaps Latios and Latias know something?

Ross continued to talk. "I know, a very good story, but five years ago, something really weird happened." That caught my interest. I knew something happened here five years ago. My Teacher and I saw a large column of light many miles away in Hoenn coming from this direction. That was when she said to come to Altomare." I don't really know what happened that night," Ross continued," I was asleep, but I had heard that some people saw a giant tsunami heading straight for the city. Then a large sphere of light ran into the wave, and the wave broke apart and washed up harmlessly into the canals. They also said that there was a large column of light that appeared in the sky afterwards. Two criminal were also caught in the ruins of the DMA. No one knows how they got in, activated it, and destroyed it, but they did. Some say that it was the Guardians that protected the city, but I don't know. Thankfully, the DMA was repaired. I am glad that wave was stopped, if it was real. If it wasn't stopped, I don't know what could've happ…" He stopped mid-word because his watch alarm went off and looked at it. "Crap," he said, "I have to go; I am late for work, nice meeting you!" He ran off.

Evil trainers, giant waves, and magic light, oh my. So that was what happened. I sat down, rested and thought about it for a moment. _'Those_ _pokémon should definitely know something' _I thought. I continued to look for Latios and Latias through the city using my map.

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By noon, I had almost given up. I looked over most of the city, and I couldn't find them. The streets were also getting crowded. I walked onto a bridge, leaned on the hand rail, and looked down into the canal. There were several schools of fish pokémon swimming and a few gondolas floated by. I then looked up to the bright, blue, cloudless sky and held onto my cross necklace. I then thought out loud, "Do I have to say please?"

Almost instantly, I felt a large gust of air, looked around, and I vaguely saw the lines of distorted light around an invisible being flying under the bridge and continuing ahead of me. It turned a corner. I ran, but once I turned the corner into a mostly empty alleyway, all I saw was a girl with a green shirt and a uniquely crazy hairdo. I didn't know what to do except go up and ask her if she saw anything.

"Excuse me!" I said trying to catch up to her, but I bumped into her instead and she fell down. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." I gave her my hand to help her up. "I was just wondering if you saw…" She grabbed my hand, and then I blanked out for a second and then the only thing I could say was, "…Latias." I saw a red and white dragon like pokémon. She had a long neck and skinny arms, and golden-yellow eyes. She had no legs, but two red "feet" things protruding out from her underside. She had a blue triangle on her belly. She knew I found out who she really was.

When I touch someone, my aura allows me to see their true form. Since most people I shake hands with look just like they how I see them, nothing seems to happen. But Latias had made herself look like a girl, and my aura could see right through that. For that moment while I was touching her hand, I saw a shocked Latias. We made eye-contact and she gasped. She then let go, returning to the shape of a girl, and ran away.

"Wait!" I screamed and started after her. I was following Latias through the maze that was Altomare. I had no idea where I was; I was just following Latias. I was avoiding people, and jumping over pokémon. While running through one alley, I saw the Red-head walk into the alley. I almost hit her, but I was able to just dodge her. It was as if time slowed down a bit as we made eye-contact. She had blue eyes and a shocked expression on her face. She had some cute freckles and smooth, long, flowing red hair. She was cute, and was about my age. She could be a cheerleader if she wanted, or someone's cute younger sister that everyone likes. I started running backwards, stumbled a bit, turned around, and continued my pursuit of Latias.

After a couple more alleys, she disappeared. "She…must be…invisible…or something," I panted out of breath. I rested for a minute. Then, in order to find her, I closed my eyes and opened my aura-sight. When I touched Latias, I got a glimpse of her aura. Aura-sight is a second sight that allows the user to see life forces instead of light. The brightest things I see are the actual people or pokémon. Where there is no aura, I only see darkness. I could still see the contours of the city, but only vaguely. However, aura-sight gives everything a fuzzy, blue-white appearance. With aura-sight, I could see the trails of aura that all forms of life leave behind. Each individual leaves a slightly different trail. The problem is finding Latias' trail out of the dozens I saw. Luckly, when I touched Latias, I saw he unique aura. I was able to pick it out and follow it, but I had to be quick before I forgot it or the trail dissipated. I might never find her again.

The trail eventually ended in a building. I closed my aura-sight and opened my eyes. It looked like some sort of gondola workshop. I read a sign that said Lorenzo's Gondolas. I entered the shop, and inside I saw a short old man who vaguely looked an old video game character I once saw.

"Good morning," said the man who must be Lorenzo. He spoke with a bit of suspicion in his voice. He eyed me in a suspicious manner.

"Morning. Just wondering, have you seen a girl in a green shirt, about say… yay high, and has this funky hairdo?" I asked.

He pulled out what appeared to be a shotgun and aimed it at me. I raised my hands, and I could only think of two words.

Oh Crap.

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**What do you think? Please review. I can't continue this story if nobody reads it. Tell me what you think. If anyone knows how I can get more people to read this, please tell me. Thanks.**

**No Flames or Spams, please.**

**I plan to update soon.**


	3. Mistaken Identity

**UPDATE: Nothing really changed in this chapter.**

**Hello, everybody! I would like to start off by thanking those who actually _reviewed_my story. Thanks Lateral Ganon, CyphrusCross, and Zakandu for reviewing. You are the only ones. To those who have read, but didn't review, thanks for reading but please review. I need to know how I can improve and if people like it.**

**This is chapter three, and I hope you enjoy!**

**Notes: **"This is normal talking" _'This is thinking. Italics with apostaphes' "this is telepathy. Italics with quotation marks"_

**Disclaimer:** blah, blah, blah,** I don't own this, **blah, blah, blah,**I own my OCs,** blah, blah, **You know the drill.**

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**Chapter Three: Mistaken Identity**

Have you ever stared down the barrel of a shotgun at near point-blank range because you asked a question? No? Well let me tell you, it's not fun…obviously. I was standing in the gondola workshop with Lorenzo aiming his shotgun at me; all the while I was thanking God for the small things in life like still having clean and dry pants.

"Wait! L-Let me explain!" I stammered with my hands in the air.

Lorenzo cocked the gun, "Leave! I don't know what you want with her, but you will not get your hands on her."

"I don't want to hurt her, I just want to talk." I said a little more calmly.

"One."

"I didn't do anything, she just ran away before I could say anything." I said. I was readying my aura. My gloves began to glow soft blue a bit

"Two."

"But, Latias…" As soon as I said her name, he shot, without saying three even. However, with my aura ready, I brought up a shield instantly that blocked the shot. As it hit the invisible shield, it made the shield glow with a whitish blue light. Lorenzo was shocked, enough so that he dropped the gun, and I lunged forward and grabbed it. "Are you friggin' _crazy_? I said I just need to talk to her." I thought about it for a minute, and then I said, "Is there any way I can prove I am a good guy?"

Lorenzo just breathed in and said, "No, you obviously did something to hurt her. Leave Altomare, or I will have you arrested."

I asked, "Hurt her? I didn't hurt her." He then motioned to Latias, still in the form of the girl, in the corner of the shop. She was on the floor grabbing her knees. She was crying. "I am…sorry." I had no idea what I did to make her cry, but it is better to be safe than sorry (or in this case, sorry in order to be safe). I started to walk closer to her.

"Stay away from her!" Lorenzo yelled. I ignored him; after all I did have the shotgun. I got down to Latias's eye level. She just ignored me and stared at floor and closed her golden-yellow eyes.

"Latias, it is alright. I won't hurt you," I said. I took off my hat and gave a smile. "I just want to know a few things from you and your brother."

She didn't do anything. I saw a few more tears fall down her face. _"Brother…"_ she said in a whimper. She didn't actually say it, but it sounded like she was using telepathy.

"That's enough. Now look at her," Lorenzo said.

I put my hat back on, stood up, turned to him, and said, "I don't understand. What did I say to hurt her? I only mentioned her brother."

Lorenzo bowed his head a bit and said quietly, "Latios is dead. Five years ago. She finally got over it, but now you just brought back those memories."

I then realized what I had done. I reminded her of a lost brother; her only family. I never even had a family. The closest I ever had to family was my teacher, and now she is gone. "Oh…" I said," I am so sorry. I didn't know. I never had a family."

Latias opened her eyes and looked up a bit. We made eye-contact for about a minute. "If there is anything I could…"

I then felt something hostile approach. "Latias, hide! Become invisible or something! Now!" As she did, I tossed the shotgun back to Lorenzo, who caught it. "When the door opens, Latias must leave!"

"What is going…" he said, but then the door was kicked open, Lorenzo dropped the gun, and the Red-head walked right in. She had a .40 caliber handgun pointed at Lorenzo. Meanwhile, I used my aura to hide me as best as I could.

I was finally able to get a good look at her. Her red hair went down half her back. She was wearing white tennis shoes and long blue jeans. She wore a black t-shirt and a open, zip-up, crimson vest. On the left side of her vest was a black number "1". On the other side there was a small logo. It was round and had different colors. The only thing on the logo I could make out were the letters "OA" in the center of the logo. I would guess that she belonged to whatever OA was and that her vest was bulletproof. I could now see the brown holster for her black handgun that was attached to the side of her pants. She also wore a trainer's belt with one pokéball on it. Whoever this Red-head was, she meant business.

"Where is she?!" Red-head yelled. She walked in closer to Lorenzo, giving enough room for Latias to escape through the door. There was a gust of air when she left. Luckily, Red-head didn't notice.

"I-I don't kn-know who you're t-talking about." Lorenzo stuttered.

"Don't lie!" She yelled. She was tougher than her younger sister appearance made her out to be, even though her in her anger she still looked like one. She was about to pull the trigger, when I threw a ball of aura at her, making her drop the gun. "What the f..." she muttered and then saw me.

I had revealed, and I had my hand extended towards her with my gloves glowing with energy. "I think you should go and leave him alone." I said in a stern but calm voice.

It took her a second before she recognized me, but then she said, "You, from the alleyway! How did you…ah-ha! Of course, that explains it!" She dived for her gun, and I tossed another aura sphere but missed. She aimed the gun at me and said, "So this is where we meet, isn't it Latios!"

'_Wait, Latios?'_ I thought, _'How in the world could she have believed that I was Latios!' _I then said aloud, "WTF lady! What is your problem?!" However, I then realized that maybe I could use this to my advantage. I might be able to lure her away from Latias and Lorenzo, who was speechless the whole time.

"No problem," she said, "just a mission." She fired a couple shots at me, but I blocked them. She aimed back at Lorenzo, but I rammed one of the unfinished gondolas into her before she could shoot. I then ran out of the shop, leaving a shocked Lorenzo behind, and Red-head followed. She put her gun away, and pulled out a pokéball. "Go Blaziken!" She yelled. Out of the ball came a large red and orange, bird-like, fighting pokémon. "Use flamethrower" Red-head yelled.

I was running down empty alleyways and avoiding large blasts of fire. I occasionally threw an aura sphere back at it. I eventually reached a dead end at a canal. I turned around. Behind me: Water. In front of me: Fire. "Über crap," I muttered

"Give it up, Latios!" Red-head called out, "Tell me where the Soul Dew is!"

"No, I don't feel like it! Please ask when you are NOT trying to KILL me!" I replied.

That just angered her. "Blaziken, get him!" She yelled. Blaziken was running towards me, and I had no where to go. I ran foreward, rolled on to my back and created a shield of aura above me like a ramp that Blaziken ran on. Before he realized it, he ran right into the water. "NO!" Red-head yelled and pulled out her .40 caliber. She was about to shoot, when an invisible being slammed her against the wall, knocking her out. It was obviously Latias. Latias then grabbed the unconscious body, grabbed Blaziken, and took them both out of sight.

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I rested a bit, and a few moments later Latias was back in the form of the girl. I then followed her back to Lorenzo's shop. On the way, we talked a bit. I asked her, "So, why did you run away when we met, and how did I remind you of Latios?"

She waited a moment before answering telepathically, _"Well…it was your eyes."_

"My eyes?" I replied with a bit of annoyance in my voice. "What did they do, creep you out?" I get annoyed when people get creeped out when they see I have red eyes.

"_No, it's not that,"_ she answered with a little sadness in her voice. _"They are Latios' eyes."_ That made me stop, but she continued walking. It now made sense. She ran away when we made eye-contact because my eyes reminded her of a brother she could never be with again. _"I know I shouldn't have run away or acted the way I did, but it was too many memories. I just wanted to leave."_

I couldn't think of anything to say in response. We didn't talk anymore on the way back. We just walked back to Lorenzo's completely quiet.

He had already fixed the door when we got to the shop. I walked in, and he look at me in surprise and said, "You again!"

I only smiled. "Me again," I said in response and laughed a bit. Lorenzo looked like he was going to protest, but just then, Latias, walked in the shop behind me. She closed the door, and then she began to glow. She turned into her true form. The red and white dragon was just levitating right next to me

"_It's okay Lorenzo. He is good. We can trust him.__ We must show him."_ She said, again telepathically. She then turned to me and hugged me, making my hat fall off. She then said, _"Thank you for your help."_ She then let go. She still looked a little sad, but I could see that after out talk she was getting over it.

"Well, you obviously trust him now," Lorenzo sighed, and then he smiled. "Very well. You have never misjudged a person yet. Sorry about earlier. What is your name?"

"Esteban," I answered while bending down to get my hat.

"Well, Esteban, it is time I show you the Secret Garden of Altomare."

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**Is it good? Yes? No? Maybe? Please review to tell me.**

**I felt like I could have written this chapter better, but I don't know how. Please tell me how I can improve.**

**I hope you liked it. Chapter 4 is currently in the works.**


	4. Aura

**UPDATE: Nothing much was changed here as well. A couple things, including Esteban's thoughts about his teacher were removed.**

**Hello...again! Thanks to everyone who has read and review. There is now a total of four (count them: four!) people who have reviewed! (complete silence) ...yay! But seriously, thanks for reviewing. It makes me believe someone actually cares to read my story.**

**To Lateral Ganon: You were afraid that my story would be a self insert where Altomare Latias falls in love with me. You, and others who are worried about the same thing, would be happy to know that that is not the case. I have my own plans for my character in the future, and there is no OC x Latias shipping now or ever in my story and never has been. It just seemed that way. Sorry about that.**

**Notes: **"This is normal talking" _'This is thinking. Italics with apostaphes' "this is telepathy. Italics with quotation marks"_

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to do this every time? (Lawyer nods his head) Okay, fine. **I don't own this. Except my OCs. You should know by now.**

**This is chapter 4, so now on with it!**

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**Chapter Four: Aura**

Lorenzo led us through some dark, secret passageways from his shop leading us to some secret garden. After a few minutes, we made it back out into the light. It was amazing. I set my backpack down and started wandering the garden, and I was looking around the whole place in awe. It was a large space filled with huge trees and bushes all wonderfully landscaped. There were fountains, water features, and pools. Bird and insect pokémon were thriving in the garden. Scattered throughout the garden were interestingly shaped little wind chimes. The sounds were amazing as well. The birds chirping, the bugs buzzing, the water splashing, and the chimes chiming all together in harmony was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. There was a part of the garden that was elevated above the rest. There seemed to be a small water feature there, and it looked very special. It also seemed to be glowing a bit, but I was too focused on the rest of the garden to investigate any further.

I was too immersed in what I was seeing, that I didn't notice the girl standing next to an easel until I walked right into her. I could hear Latias and Lorenzo laughing a bit as I stumbled into her. She seemed too immersed in her artwork to have bothered to have gotten out of the way as well. She fell down and said, "Hey, watch it!"

I looked down and saw the girl. She looked exactly like Latias did in human form, except this girl was wearing a white beret. "Oh, sorry," I said and offered my hand to help her up. She grabbed it and pulled herself up, and she didn't change like Latias did when she grabbed my hand. "You look just like Latias, or, well, Latias looked just like you."

She fixed her beret a bit and patted some dirt off her before responding. "Latias and I are best friends. She likes to look like me when she explores the city. Mind if I ask who the _hell_ are you and why you ran into me in the middle of my sketching?" She did not try to hide the annoyance in her voice on her last sentence.

I sweatdropped a bit. "Oh, uh, I am, well, uh…" I muttered. _'I need to work on my talking skills,'_ I thought.

She rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. The then yelled out to Lorenzo, "Grandpa, who the hell is this?" She was pointing to me.

I turned around and saw Lorenzo walking closer, laughing a bit. "Bianca, this is Esteban. Latias trusts him, and he helped save her from a rather unsavory character a short while ago. Esteban, this is my granddaughter Bianca."

I put my hand out to shake hers, but she ignored it and went straight to asking, "Wait, Latias was attacked?" There was some concern in her voice. Lorenzo and I started telling her about what happened that day while Latias started playing in the garden.

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When we had finished, Bianca turned to Lorenzo and said, "I hope it doesn't happen again."

"Me too," Lorenzo sighed. I could tell they were referring to five years ago as well as what happened today.

I didn't want to ask depressing questions, so I just went over to sit on a swing next to a pool. Even though it was the middle of June, Altomare seemed to have a very mild climate. Even though I was wearing a heavy duster coat, I still felt comfortable. I started swinging lightly and I held onto my golden cross. "Oh, Teacher," I said, "you would have loved this."

"_Who's 'Teacher'?" _I heard in a telepathic voice. It startled me, so I jumped off the swing and nearly fell over. I turned to see Latias levitating next to the swing. She had a small smile on her face.

"She is, well, she _was_ my teacher…obviously." I said. "Her real name was Azalea, but I always referred to her as Teacher."

"_Why do keep talking about her in the past-tense?"_ she asked.

I sighed. "I…well…I don't like to talk about that." Latias seemed to know what I meant. I started thinking to myself about my Teacher and reliving some memories. I didn't notice how hard I was holding onto my cross until it actually started to hurt. I let go of it. I then said to Latias, "You were trying to listen to my thoughts weren't you?"

Latias seemed to be taken aback by my question. _"How did you know?"_ she asked.

"You're a psychic. You're also very curious. Two plus two equals four. Therefore, you were probably trying to read my mind. Oh, and you just told me by you reaction," I answered.

"_Okay, I was trying to read your mind," _she admitted. _"I promise not to ask any more questions about your Teacher unless it is relevant."_ She then flew over towards me and said, _"So I will ask you this, is an Aura Guardian like a psychic?"_

"No, being an Aura Guardian does not make me a psychic. They are two completely different things. I should probably be insulted by that." I answered.

By that time, Lorenzo and Bianca had come over to us, and Bianca asked, "Then what is the difference."

"Psychics deal with the mind," I said. "But Aura, that's all about the soul, literally. Aura is your soul and life energy. All life makes it and all life gives it off. Just like how only a few people can manipulate the mind, like psychics for example, only a few people can manipulate aura. I am one of those people. So that means I can't use telepathy, or telekinesis, or read minds, or make things happen just by thinking about it. That is psychic stuff. I can; however, do this." I focused my aura a bit, making my gloves glow. I put out my right hand. What looked like a small, bluish purple flame was burning above my hand.

The three looked in awe at the blue fire that was somehow floating above my hand. Out of curiosity, Bianca reached out and touched it. She seemed shocked by the fact that it didn't burn her. "It's not hot. It's just…warm"

"That is because I am in a good mood right now. Try and touch it when I am angry, and you would _not _like it." I said in response. She withdrew her hand. "As you can see, this is my aura, and I can do a lot with it." I then closed my hand on the small fire, turned around, and threw it out at the water as an aura sphere. There was a large splash where the sphere hit. I then reached my hand out to a rock that was few yards away. I used aura to lift the rock into the air and have it fly to me. "Watch this," I said as I was tossing the rock in the air. I then threw the rock at a nearby tree.

"That wasn't aura," Bianca complained. "You just threw that rock."

"Just wait for it," I responded. Then a flock of angry spearows flew out of the tree's branches and flew straight towards us. Bianca and Lorenzo were shocked that I purposely angered a flock of birds that were about to attack us. Latias was about to fend them off, but I told her not to. They looked confused and worried a bit. The birds were about to hit when I put out both of my hands and formed a shield of aura. They all just suddenly hit an invisible wall that glowed a bight whitish blue as they all hit. Everyone, except me, flinched when they hit. They tumbled to the ground and didn't bother to try to attack the invisible shield again.

When it was safe, I lowered the shield and grabbed a loaf of bread that was in one of my pant pockets. I broke it into little pieces and gave it to the pokémon as payment for letting me use them as guinea pigs. They found it suitable and started eating the bread crumbs.

"Like I said, aura is energy." I turned to the three behind me and said, "I know that you shouldn't anger a flock of birds, but I thought this was safer than having Lorenzo shoot me again." Lorenzo laughed a bit, and everyone relaxed. "So that is what I can do with aura. I could explain how it works, but that is a long and boring lecture for some other time."

Latias then asked, _"Esteban, how did you follow me to Lorenzo earlier today? I was invisible."_

I then explained about aura-sight. I tried to demonstrate it, so I closed my eyes and opened my aura-sight. "Lorenzo is here. Bianca. Latias." As I said their names, I pointed to them, but that was easy. "Sprearows are there. Pidgeys are in that pool. Butterfrees are in that other tree." I pointed to those as I said them. I heard sounds of amusement. I must have been right. "And that is a…" In my aura-sight I saw a bright spot of aura. I could tell that it was from the special water feature I noticed earlier, but the aura was extremely similar to Latias'. I could only come up with one explanation. I opened my eyes and said, "That is Latios."

Everyone became quiet. I then started walking to where it was. The water feature was a large basin of water with a glowing sphere in the center of it. I stared at it. The three came up to where I was. "That is the Soul Dew," Lorenzo explained. "When an Eon Pokémon dies, they can leave behind their soul in a Soul Dew. This is Latias' brother. He left this to us when he died five years ago; just like his father."

I looked closer and harder at it. I could see that besides glowing, the Soul Dew was also showing tiny, faint images; Latios' memories. You could barely notice it even if you were looking for it. "I would expect that any pokémon can leave a Soul Dew, but only a few choose to do so," I said. "It's just a sphere of extremely concentrated aura, but it's more than just aura. It has his memories and, I'm willing to bet, it also has his consciousness in it. It is quite amazing, actually. It is literally just radiating large amounts of aura. Luckily, it still finds a way to make more aura, but you must keep it in water or else more aura would be lost than made, and, I would say, in about a few hours it would die. If _anything_ uses its entire aura, it would die, but luckily all living things also usually make more than they use."

I walked back away from it and turned to the three and smiled. "It is just beautifully amazing. With that much aura just given off like that, it could power a small city or a large machine. After all, aura is energy. It is like an aura-battery or something." Then I realized something. "That is what you are doing, isn't it? This water feature is gathering the aura it gives off and powers the city, and you are keeping it in water so it doesn't release too much at one time. Brilliant. I am also willing to bet that this is what powers the D.M.A., right?" Everyone looked dumbstruck at me. "What?" I asked.

"It took years to discover the potential of the Soul Dew, but it took you only a few minutes!" Lorenzo exclaimed with surprise.

"Well," I said, "It was just staring me in the face. Well, you couldn't see it, but I could see it with aura-sight. It was like a big, bright…thing of aura right where the Soul Dew is. I bet I could help you design a method of collecting the aura more efficiently, if you want. I must say it again, it is just brilliant!"

My felling of jubilation probably would have lasted longer if it weren't for one tiny problem. I heard someone landing in the garden near the wall. I looked. It was the Red-head from before who had jumped from on top of the wall right next to us. She had her .40 caliber pointed right at us.

She said, "Thanks for all the information. You gave me just what I needed to know. Now, if you would please hand over the Soul Dew, I might actually consider letting you live."

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**Well? Was it good? Tell me what you think in a review. I accept all kinds of reviews (positive, negative, constructive criticisms, etc.), except flames or spams. I don't like flames or spams.**

**I also want to know how I can improve this chapter, so please tell me.**

**Also, if you are confused about the whole aura thing, don't be. You don't need to know how it works to understand the story, but I tried to explain a little bit of it in this chapter. If you have read _The Dresden Files_, then try to combine how the magic is in that series with aura from the 8th pokemon movie (The one with Lucario), and that is the basic idea of aura for my story.**

**Chapter 5: I have a basic idea of what happens in it, but nothing is written. I may or may not upload it in the next week.**

**I hope you liked it!**


	5. The Soulgaze

**UPDATE: This chapter changed the most. The soulgaze later in the chapter was completely rewritten, and a few other things throughout the chapter was also changed a bit.**

**I guess I was wrong, I was able to upload this within a week. As always, I would like to thank my reviewers.**

**I hope you like this chapter, it is my longest yet. It has a little over 3,000 words. Just don't get confused as you read.**

**Notes:** "This is normal talking" _'This is thinking. Italics with apostaphes' "this is telepathy. Italics with quotation marks"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff except my OCs. OCs are listed in my profile.**

**Now on with it!**

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**Chapter Five: The Soulgaze**

"Über crap," I muttered under my breath while I was putting my hands in the air. The homicidal Red-head had her .40 caliber pointed at us, and she was demanding the Soul Dew. "Weren't you just knocked out like two hours ago?" I asked.

"What can I say? I woke up and tracked you here," replied Red-head. Lorenzo and Bianca were looking worried. Latias looked pissed, but she knew better than to go after a mad person with a gun.

"Yeah," I said, "how _did_ you find me? This is supposed to be a _secret_ garden."

"Look in your pocket," she answered. I was a bit confused, but I started searching my pockets anyway. In one of my duster pockets was a round device the size of a small rock. I pulled it out and saw that it was some sort of transmitter. "In that alleyway, Blaziken threw it into your pocket just before he fell into the canal. He has quite the aim, you know."

I started tossing the device in my hand and started examining it. It was small, but not as small as some transmitters were. It had decent weight to it. _'I just might just be able to…' _I thought. "Yeah, he has very good aim," I finally said to Red-head, "but you know what?"

"What?" she asked to humor me. I then hurled the round device at her, which then hit her square in the forehead. She was taken by complete surprise, so she fell back a bit and shot a few rounds. Thankfully she completely missed and accidentally dropped the gun.

"So do I!" I yelled to her and then turned to Latias. "Latias, take them to safety. Now! I can handle this." She nodded to me. As soon as Red-head recovered and grabbed her gun, Latias turned invisible along with Bianca and Lorenzo. I then grabbed the Soul Dew that was in the basin next to and held it up just as Red-head took aim on me.

"Hand it over." She said coolly. She didn't want to risk shooting me, or else I might drop and break the Soul Dew. I didn't have my staff with me. I left it with my backpack near the entrance. I glanced over to it, and it wasn't far. It was only just a few yards away. I then jumped down from were I was, still holding the Soul Dew, and dashed for my staff.

I then heard the sound of a pokéball opening and heard Red-head yell, "Blaziken, flamethrower!" A few seconds later, I saw jets of flame nearly hit me, but I was dodging them. I looked back, and saw a jet of flame heading straight for me. I dived for my staff, just missing the flame, and I grabbed my staff. I quickly focused my aura into the staff, turned around, and shot a concentrated blast of aura right at Blaziken. Blaziken fell backwards.

Red-head was getting closer; her gun still aimed at me, and said, "Well that was interesting. Who are you? I think that it is safe to assume that you are _not _Latios."

I had my staff pointed at her. The runes on my staff had a soft blue glow as aura was being focused in it. "Well you are correct, finally. My name is Esteban. I'm just an average, ordinary human. Well, an average, ordinary human that can do Auramancy, but all the same. Mind if I ask who you are? I can't just keep referring to you as 'Red-head'."

We started circling each other with her gun aimed at me and my staff at her. Blaziken was just waiting outside our circle. She laughed a bit. "I think I can do that. Call me Una. I am from the Order of Arceus. Second in command"

'_Order of Arceus,'_ I thought, _'that would explain the OA on her vest. Arceus? I could swear I heard that name before.' _I then said aloud, "Una, eh? That's an interesting name. I bet that's fake. So Order of Arceus, is it? Is that some sort of cult?"

"Cult? Cult? Oh, no," Una said while shaking her head. "We prefer to refer to ourselves as an organization. Now, I will ask one last time. Will you please hand over the Soul Dew?"

I tossed the jewel in the air a couple times until I finally said, "No." Una fired her gun at me, but I put up my shield and blocked the shots. However, I didn't notice Blaziken sneak up behind me. Blaziken was not only a fire type, but he was also a fighting type. I may be good at aura, but that doesn't mean I'm good with hand-to-hand combat. That meant Blaziken started beating the crap out of me. After he kicked and pummeled me to the ground, I dropped the Soul Dew. He then grabbed the sphere and tossed it to Una who caught it.

"Thank you Blaziken, and thank you Esteban," she said contently while putting her gun away to examine the Jewel.

"Don't thank me just yet," I said. I rolled over, aimed my staff at Blaziken, and fired another shot of aura. He jumped back out of the way, but I jumped back up onto my feet. I ran over to the shocked Blaziken, grabbed his shoulders, and rammed my knee as hard as I could right in that tender spot between the legs. "I don't care what species you are. If you're a guy, then that _had _to hurt," I remarked as Blaziken fell over in agony. I then turned to Una with my staff pointed at her. She tried to run out of the way, but I fired another shot of aura at her. The Soul Dew flew into the air, and I used my aura to bring it to my outstretched hand.

They were both down on the ground. I noticed that all the pokémon in the garden were getting extremely agitated from all the chaos. I almost thought that I had won until I heard Una's voice say, "Blaziken, flamethrower!" I turned around and saw the pokémon crouch up a bit and fire a jet of flame right at me. This time, I didn't dodge it. I was completely on fire, but I managed to jump into the pool of water next to me before any part of me was seriously burned.

While under the water holding my breath, I started noticing shots go right by me. Una was probably up and at the edge of the water hoping her .40 caliber would finally get me. I started swimming the middle of the pool, just barely missing the deadly shots. A couple of the water pokeman weren't so lucky. I made it to the middle and got Blaziken and Una into my view. Una was reloading and Blaziken's fire would reach me in the water. I couldn't hold my breath much longer. I let the staff and Soul Dew float in the water in front of me a bit so I could free up my hands.

I closed my eyes and focused hard on my aura, and my gloves started to glow very brightly. I opened my eyes and quickly moved my hands to point to where both Blaziken and Una were. Immediately, two high-power currents of water from the pool shot out in the directions my hands were pointing. The extremely thick, fire-hose like jets of water blasted both Blaziken and Una back almost eight yards. However, the Soul Dew was sucked into one of the currents and shot out of the pool. I then quickly grabbed my staff, and I surfaced just before I drowned. I gasped for air, made my way to the pools edge, and pulled myself out.

A good portion of the pool's water was now all over the garden in front of me, as were some water pokémon. With Blaziken being a fire-type, the blast of water was especially devastating for him. He was finally knocked out cold. Una, on the other hand, was starting to get up, albeit slipping and panting a little on the way. We were both out of breath, and the Soul Dew was sitting in between us, right in the middle. Neither of us was reaching for it yet. We were waiting to see what the other person would do.

After a minute, I acted first and asked, "Why do you want the Soul Dew? If it's to power the D.M.A., then we'll stop you."

She just laughed. "You twit. Do you really think that all this city has to offer is a priceless jewel and that infernal machine?"

"Well, no," I replied. "I also think this city offers a wide variety of artistic and culinary delights, wonderful people, magnificent architecture, and a rich history."

She started to smile. "History. If you know anything about the history of this city it is that it was attacked many years ago by an evil trainer. What everyone focuses on is how the city was _miraculously_ saved by the guardians. What no one does is ask the other questions. Why would someone spend their time and resurrect extinct pokémon and terrorize the city? There was no Soul Dew for him to steal or D.M.A. to abuse at that time. I _can_ tell you this: it was not for shits and giggles. This city has more secrets than even its own guardians know about. The only way to find the True Secret is to ask the questions that aren't obvious and to dig a little deeper. I will find it, Esteban, and I will need the Soul Dew to do it."

As soon as she was done with her monologue, she started to dash for the Soul Dew. I reacted quickly and started for it myself. She almost beat me to it, but I used my aura to pull it towards me. I caught it, but a second later Una rammed right into me. The Soul Dew went flying right out of my hand into the air. As it came down, Una and I caught it at the same time. It started to glow brightly as we were both holding on to it, more so than usual, and then something happened that had never happened before.

It would be very hard to explain exactly what happened after that moment. It's like a dream that you barely remember after you wake up, and you only remember the vaguest of details. I stared into her blue eyes and then felt a whooshing sensation. The next thing I knew, I was in some large open space. I don't know how, but I could tell that I was gazing into Una's own soul. In the center of the space was Una just like how she was in the garden, her .40 caliber pointed out and a menacing yet strong expression on her face. However, she also looked cold, emotionless, heartless, and evil. There were a couple silhouetted figures in the area. One was standing next to Una, smiling. The other was lying on the floor in the direction Una was pointing the gun. They all seemed to be frozen in time. I walked up to Una and examined her closely. There was something off about her; fake. It was like some mask, for lack of a better word. I reached up to touch her, but the menacing Una dissolved and revealed a much different Una deep down.

As Una's mask dissolved, the scene changed a little. This newer and truer Una was looking in disgust and horror at the gun that had fallen to the floor. I could see that this Una was even crying a little. Her arms were outstretched as if she was trying to distance herself from the gun. She hated it and tried to avoid the gun like the plague. This deep down Una was the complete opposite of the "mask" that was there just before and the Una that was in the garden. This Una was vulnerable and remorseful. The figure next to Una also changed. Now the figure was angry at Una and was scowling. The dead figure was still dead, and I could just barely hear Una whimper, "Mother."

If I really was gazing into Una's soul, then it changed things. It was showing who Una truly was without lies and deception, albeit with a ton of symbolism. It was Una's soul and true self in glorious high-definition and surround sound. If I was right it meant that, deep down, Una didn't want to do what she was doing. She was just whimpering for her mother with an evil figure right next to her. How she was in the garden was just the mask I saw in the vision. She was not the evil psychopath I thought she was, but did she know that? There was a chance that she was good after all, but I needed to help pull that mask off of her and stop whoever was making Una act like an evil psychopath.

I felt another whooshing sensation as I was coming out of the soulgaze. The whole experience of staring into someone's soul has never happened to me before, and it was very intense and nauseating. It felt like it happened in several minutes, but in reality probably only took a few seconds. I figured that because it all happened when we were both grabbing the Soul Dew, it was acting like some sort of conduit that allowed the soulgaze to happen in the first place.

Judging from Una's sudden intense breathing and letting go of the Soul Dew, it was probably a two-way ordeal. She stared into my soul as well. "Who are you?" she asked while panting, "_What_ are you?" Her eyes were dilated and she stared at me.

"Huh?" I asked, and I backed away from her by several yards once I realized I was in possession of the Soul Dew again. She was regaining herself and aimed her .40 caliber at me. "Look, you don't have to do this. You hate doing this, so just stop. Let me help."

"Stay back!" she yelled sternly. She then reached into one of her vest pockets and pulled out a held-held radio. She then talked into it. "Tetra, come in! I am going to need reinforcements in the city! This is way bigger than I thought!" It made me wonder what she saw exactly in my soul. There was a response in the radio, and Una put it away. She looked back at me and said, "The Soul Dew, or else I won't miss this time."

"Una, you know this isn't you. You hate killing and hurting people like this. This is just a mask. Think! Stop this! Think about your mother!" She fired and, true to her word, she didn't miss. I wasn't able to put up my shield in time, either. The bullet hit my upper, left arm. I winced in pain and dropped my staff to free my hand to apply pressure on the wound and stop the bleeding. "Frak…über crap…expletive!" I yelled. "You weren't lying, were you?!"

"Don't…you…ever…mention…my…mother…AGAIN!" She yelled. Extreme and irrational anger meant only one thing: I was right. I just bludgeoned her over the head with the blunt end of reality, and she didn't like it. The anger was the first step in her self-evaluation. If my guess was right, she would continue to try to evaluate herself which would possible end in a nervous breakdown before she finally chose the path she wanted. But that's just a guess. However, I put her in the irrational anger stage, and that is very dangerous. She fired the rest of her shots at me, but luckily I finally put up my shield. Almost all would have hit me in vital places.

As she was reloading, I threw an aura sphere at her, and she lost her clip. I said to her, "Think about it. I am right. This is not you, and it is eating you up to be like this. Let me help, and then you can join the right side." In her fit of anger, she grabbed a large rock next to her and hurled it at me. She was quite strong, but she missed and hit the tree behind me. "Let me first give you some advice: never anger a flock of spearows."

She realized her mistake when a flock of birds flew out of the tree she just hit. I put up my shield to protect me, and the angry birds aimed for Una. She had no protection when they bombarded her, and was knocked down. When the birds receded a barely conscious Una was crouching on the ground covered with bumps, cuts, and bruises. I walked over to her and she said in a quiet voice, "I will kill you."

"Just so you know; my offer is still good. Think about it." She then finally passed out and was down for the count.

I went over by the pool and rested on its edge for a few minutes. I looked at the Soul Dew in my hand. I lost track of how much time the battle took, but the jewel needed to get into some water…fast. "You are no longer going to be safe in this garden," I said to the Soul Dew. "So I will just need to take you with me." In one of my pockets, I found a leather pouch. I filled it with water from the pool and dropped the Soul Dew into it. I closed it and put it into my duster pocket. "That should keep you safe and happy." My arm still hurt like hell, so I put some more pressure on it.

I started to think about what just happened. Una had said she was part of the Order of Arceus. I had no idea who Arceus was, but I could swear I heard that name before. Also, whoever this Order was, they were sending in even more people after the Soul Dew and whatever this "True Secret" was. This had to be bad if it involved people getting killed over it. I needed to find the True Secret before them and stop them.

I glanced over to the unconscious Una. What I saw in her soul just complicated things. If there was a chance that she is good, then I will do what I can to have her choose the right path in the end. However, until then, she was still an enemy that wants to kill me. I thought about what to do with her, but I just decided to leave her in the garden. It would look very suspicious if I went walking around with an unconscious body and a bullet in my arm.

I got up and gathered my staff and backpack. The added objects didn't help my wounded arm. I couldn't go to a hospital because they report gunshots to the police, and police involvement would complicate things even farther. I thought that perhaps Lorenzo or Bianca could help. With my stuff and Soul Dew at hand, I opened my aura-sight and found Latias' trail of aura. I followed it to find where ever she had taken the others.

After that, I left Una, the battle, and the garden behind.

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**Well, is it good? Yes? No? Maybe? Please tell me in a review. I accept all kinds of reviews (positive, negative, constructive critiscisms, etc.), except flames or spams. I don't like flames or spams.**

**I also need to know how I can improve this chapter. I need to figure out how to write it so it reads better.**

**I hoped you liked it. Lots of important information in this chapter. If you were wondering about the soulgaze thing, yes it is based off of the soulgaze in _Dresden Files_. I hope this chapter didn't confuse you.**

**Just so you know, I don't know when I will update Chapter 6. I need to focus on my "summer reading" for school. I need to write an essay for one book and a worksheet on the other. I swear, my school has some sort of political agenda with the books they have us read. (Sigh) Oh well, I will try to update as soon though.**

**Thanks for reading, and _please_ review!**


	6. The Morning After

**Hey, it's been a while. That's summer reading I guess (Which I am almost done with, though). So I thought it was time I put up chapter 6 and update the previous chapters. Truth is I also had a little bit of writer's block. Once again, I thank those who reviewed my story. Just note that this chapter is a little slow and short compared to the previous chapter. Enjoy!**

**ALSO: Chapters 1-5 have been updated and changed somewhat. It would be good to re-read them. Also, seeing as how it took a month for me to update this, it would be a good idea to re-read anyway in case you forgot.**

**Notes:** "This is normal talking" _'This is thinking. Italics with apostrophes' "this is telepathy. Italics with quotation marks"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff except my OCs. OCs are listed in my profile.**

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**Chapter Six: The Morning After**

The bed was very comfortable. _'Wait, a bed?'_ I thought, _'Since when was I in bed?'_ I felt like I was just waking up. It felt like my head was hit with a sledgehammer, and my arm hurt like hell. I guess that's what happens when you are shot in the arm and you are pummeled to the ground by an oversized chicken.

I opened my eyes, and I sat up a bit in the bed. I looked around the room. It was small, yet comfortable and had a window. Judging from the light coming in the window, it was around eight in the morning. _'How long was I out?'_ I thought to myself. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and chair, and numerous art supplies. I still had on my black shirt, pants, and gold cross. I looked at my left arm and saw white bandages on the upper part. My hat and duster was on the desk, with my staff and gloves next to them. My backpack and boots were on the floor next to the desk. I saw the pouch with the Soul Dew was on top of my backpack.

"I see that you're up," said a familiar voice. I looked and saw Bianca leaning on the open doorway.

"Don't tell me I passed out," I told to her, "I have been through a lot worse than that and haven't passed out." I remembered that after the battle in the garden, I followed Latias' aura somewhere, but the rest was blank.

She walked in and sat on the chair. "You were out for about fifteen hours. You were _shot_ and had a_ concussion_," she said while putting emphasis on shot and concussion. "Yesterday, after we came here, we waited for you. Eventually, we hear a knock on the door, and guess who we see all beaten up and barely conscious."

"Me," I replied laughing a bit.

"You collapsed at our door. Thankfully, no one was out then to see you. With a little help, I was able to patch you up and get you to bed. We were able to get out the bullet. You are lucky it didn't shatter the bone or break anything. It's like a miracle that that is all it did to you. Do you mind telling me what exactly happened?"

"It's a long story," I replied.

"Well you can tell us over breakfast, then. We're eating soon." After that she got up and left the room. I waited a minute. I looked at my golden cross around my neck. I held on to it and gave a small prayer of thanks. I then got out of bed, found some cleaner clothes in my backpack than I had on, and put them on. I grabbed the leather pouch with the Soul Dew and headed down for breakfast.

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"So she was taken out by a flock of spearows? " Bianca asked at breakfast. We had breakfast in the kitchen/dining room. The house wasn't big, but it is a comfortable size for two people and the occasional guest.

"Yeah," I said while eating my breakfast roll. I had just finished telling Lorenzo and Bianca what had happened in the garden the previous day. I had conveniently forgotten to mention the soulgaze. "By the way, where's Latias?"

"After she knew you would be aright," replied Lorenzo, "she went back to the garden and see what happened. After all, the garden is her home." Both Lorenzo and Bianca were unhappy about what I had told them. Both had worried expressions on their faces.

"Well if she went to check out the garden, I hope she knew I had this." I then put the leather pouch on the table.

"What is that?" asked Bianca. She didn't need me to answer because she went on to open the bag. "The Soul Dew?" She pulled the glowing sphere out of the water in the bag.

Lorenzo stared in disbelief. "How could you take it? If it's out of the water for too long it will die!"

"Relax," I said while I grabbed another breakfast roll. "I put water in the bag to keep it happy. If I left it in the garden, it would just get stolen. This was the safest option." I then looked around the brightly lit room. "I thought the Soul Dew provided power to the city, but why is there still power with it gone?" I asked.

"Power reserves," Lorenzo said a little more calmly. "There is enough to power the city for two weeks, but with the gala tonight I wouldn't be surprised if it only lasts a week."

By that time, all three of us had finished eating our rolls and coffee. Bianca had brought a glass bowl filled with water to the table. She then took the Soul Dew from the pouch and put it in the bowl. It was quite beautiful. "Speaking of the gala," Bianca said, "_He_ said he would come this morning." Just then there was a knock at the door. "Oh, speak of the devil that must be him." She then got up and went out of the room to the door.

I heard voices coming from the hall. I pointed to the hall, and I silently mouthed "Who that?" to Lorenzo.

He sighed. "That is her date. They are planning to spend the whole day together getting ready for the gala." He sighed again. "I should be getting the museum ready, I'm the curator."

I didn't say anything. Galas and fancy parties aren't my thing. Besides, there was something in the pouch the Soul Dew was in that caught my attention. The water was glowing a bit. "Lorenzo, do you have any clean, empty water bottles?" He didn't know why I asked but he found one and gave the bottle to me. "Thanks," I said.

I poured the water from the pouch into the bottle. The water in the bottle had a soft light blue glow to it. Lorenzo saw it and was staring at it. "Lorenzo, I forgot. Does the Soul Dew usually sit in standing water in the garden?" I asked while examining the water.

"No, the water is constantly flowing as long as the Soul Dew is in the water feature." He replied. I thought about it for a minute. The Soul Dew, even in water, radiates a ton of aura. So much that it can power the city. With it sitting in the same water for hours, the water might have absorbed at least a little bit of the radiated aura. In a sense making it some sort of supercharged aura water. At least it would explain the glow.

"So what is it?" Lorenzo asked about the water.

"For lack of a better word, it is aura water. I _think_," I replied. "There's only one way to see. Cheers!" I then drank some of the water. Almost immediately, my terrible headache was gone. I felt much better than just a minute earlier. "Wow. Now _that's_ an energy drink! Try some."

I offered the bottle to Lorenzo, who drank a little bit. "Wow that is good. All my aches are gone. I think I can get ready for two galas now. Thanks."

"No problem." I said. I then put the bottle of magical liquids into one of my pockets. I then filled the leather pouch with some fresh water and put the Soul Dew in it. I then put the pouch in another pocket.

Lorenzo and I were about to leave the kitchen, when Bianca came back in. "I would like you two to meet him," she said with a smile. She then went back into the hall.

"After you," I said to Lorenzo. I followed him into a living room. There Bianca made introductions.

"Grandpa and Esteban, this is Ross. Ross, this is my grandpa Lorenzo and my friend Esteban." She said. We shook hands.

Ross said to me, "Hey weren't you the person I met at the café yesterday?"

"Wait, you two know each other?" Bianca asked surprised.

"You two know each other?" Ross asked surprised.

"You two know each other?" I asked with a little laugh. "Small town, I guess."

"Well, I guess everyone knows each other then." Lorenzo interrupted. "It was nice meeting you Ross. I will see you at the gala tonight. I must go get the museum ready." Lorenzo then went up to his room.

"So, Esteban, what happened to you?" Ross asked. I looked myself over. I did look a little messed up.

"A mad woman with a gun and an oversized chicken; that's what happened," I said with a smile.

He nodded. "Ah, relationship issues; I hope you work that out," said Ross, "Will you be at the party?"

"No, I think it's only for locals," I said.

"I guess you're right. Nice meeting you again, Esteban. Should we go, Bianca?" He asked.

I said bye to them and headed back to my room. I put on my gloves and looked at my duster coat. It must have been washed while I was sleeping, because there was no blood on it. I put it and my backpack on. I decided against taking my staff because I thought I wouldn't need to use it. I headed to the door, and I saw Lorenzo about to leave. "Hey, Lorenzo, may I go with you to the museum?"

"Sure," he said, "It is open today until the afternoon."

"Great, thanks," I replied. We headed out the door and walked a little ways when someone came running towards us. "Oh, hi Latias," I said to the person who looked exactly like Bianca.

"_How did you know it was me?"_ she asked telepathically.

"Let's just say you have this aura about you," I replied.

"_Ah, well we have a big problem,"_ she said

"Oh, and the Soul Dew is safe with me, in case you were wondering." I said. She was shocked for a moment and then had this "never mind" expression on her face.

Lorenzo then asked, "Latias, why don't you come with us to the museum. Bianca is getting ready for the gala with Ross."

_"Ok,__"_ she said, _"Oh, I'm glad to see that you're doing better Esteban."_

"Thanks," I said, "It's good to know that the city's guardian cares. Now let's go!"

With that, the three of us headed for a day at the museum.

* * *

**Yeah, I know it's mostly filler, but in a few chapters it gets better.**

**Well, is it good? Yes? No? Maybe? Please tell me in a review. I accept all kinds of reviews (positive, negative, constructive criticisms, etc.), except flames or spams. I don't like flames or spams.**

**I also need to know how I can improve this chapter. I need to figure out how to write it so it reads better, so please tell me.**

**There is no set date for chapter 7, but it will definitely be up by before the end of the month.**

**Thanks for reading, and _please_ review!**


	7. The Altomare Museum of History

**Chapter seven is here. Thanks to those who reviewed. Anyone else who has read and didn't review, I hope you liked it, but please review.**

**Notes:** "This is normal talking" _'This is thinking. Italics with apostrophes' "this is telepathy. Italics with quotation marks"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff except my OCs. OCs are listed in my profile. **(Grumbles) Do I have to say this _every _Time? Oh well. **Now on with it!**

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**Chapter Seven:  
The Altomare Museum of History**

Soon after we were on our way, Lorenzo offered to take us to the museum by gondola. While in the gondola, Lorenzo and Latias started to have a conversation. I didn't join in. I tried to organize my thoughts. I took out my black rock from my pocket and started fiddling with it wile thinking.

Una had said that in order to find the True Secret, whatever the hell that was, I would need to ask the unobvious questions and have an understanding of the history of the city. I guess it was a good thing I was heading to a museum. Question one: Why did that evil trainer do what he did all those years ago? Judging from what Una said, he was probably after the Secret too. Question two: What is this Secret? Obviously Una and the Order know, they just need to get to it. That brings up question three: Who is the Order of Arceus, and why do they want this Secret? I needed to get a clue or something if I wanted to stop them, because judging by how thing have gone so far, if the Order got their hands on the Secret, things would get bad.

"Esteban, you're awfully quiet," said Lorenzo suddenly. I jumped a bit and dropped my rock.

"Huh, what?" I said as I picked up my rock. "Oh, I was just thinking."

Latias, trying to get me to talk, then asked, _"So, why do you want to go to the museum?"_

"History," I said. "It's all about the history."

"I can give you a quick overview on the city's history on the way to the museum," Lorenzo offered. "After all, I am the curator."

I thought about it. "Sure, that would be great," I responded.

Lorenzo then began. "This area has always been inhabited in some form or another. It is a very good place for trade. Ancient civilizations had settlements here back before there was the water. Altomare didn't always have flooded streets. Eventually the water came, and this city became even more strategic for trade. With the water, the settlement became a village, the village became a town, and the town eventually became a city.

"Back a little over a hundred years ago, the excessively rich mayor of Altomare had become tired of how shabby the city had become over the years. He hired the great architect Donato Luccio to renovate the whole city so it can rival the greatest European cities."

I took a look at the city around us. The architecture was great. "I guess he was successful then."

"Yes," Lorenzo continued, "but it took him many years to do it. Luccio had said when he was done that it was his greatest accomplishment. Well, after that no much happened in the city. That is, until around seventy years ago." I knew that now Lorenzo was talking about the day with the evil trainer so I stopped fiddling with my rock a bit so I could listen more closely.

"It was a dark and rainy night," Lorenzo said. "He came with no mercy and two resurrected fossils. He would slaughter anyone who opposed him. He would just _play_ with them, and then he would snap his fingers. They would just _drop_ dead." Lorenzo was now talking with pain in his voice, and he was staring into space as if he was reliving the memories in his mind. I had no doubt that such an experience would leave an impression deep enough to make it near impossible to forget even the finer details. Luckily he was still able to steer the gondola like it was nothing. Latias just had her eyes closed and bowed her head in respect. "He was making his way to the museum. That was where I was with my family. I was only a boy then. He made to the front of the museum with his demonic pokémon. He had silver hair, black clothes, and an expression of pure evil. I thought we were dead."

Lorenzo then sighed and paused. "Then, like a miracle, Latios arrived. There was epic battle between the trainer's pokémon and Latios. Each time either aerodactyl or kabutops were near defeat, the trainer would somehow revive them back to full strength, but the trainer would get weaker each time he made the pokémon stronger. Eventually, he got too weak to revive them anymore, and the two pokémon were finally defeated by Latios. Both were extremely weak from the battle. Everyone thought Latios would win, but the trainer wouldn't give up. The trainer knew he wouldn't win, so he tried to take all of us at the museum down with him. He sent a blast of energy, not at Latios, but at us. Latios flew in front of us to absorb the blast. Latios gave his life so more lives wouldn't be lost because of the trainer. The trainer only laughed before he too fell to the ground and died. Latios' body then began to glow and dissolved. In its place was the Soul Dew. After that, the city decided to place the Latios and Latias statue on top of the columns on the main canal in order to honor them. You probably saw them when you arrived in Altomare."

Lorenzo stopped talking. I remained silent in order to honor Latios' memory. "My God," I murmured. "He was an Aura Guardian." Lorenzo and Latias all looked at me. "The trainer, he was an Aura Guardian, but a rouge one. It is the only way he could have done what he did. He died in the end because he used the last of his aura in his final blast. No aura, no life."

"_Wow," _was all Latias said in response.

"No wonder your aura demonstration was disturbingly familiar," said Lorenzo. "I never made the connection."

"I know this sounds trivial, but do you know why he was heading to the museum, or if he was carrying anything weird or of value?" I asked.

Lorenzo and Latias looked at each other, and Lorenzo thought about it. "I don't know why he wanted to go there, but I do remember that he was holding a rolled up piece of paper the whole time. Now that I think about it, he did drop the paper when he died and I saw that it was a will; the will of Architect Luccio to be precise. I never thought much of it actually because I would see no use of it. Also, it seemed to disappear soon afterwards."

"Hmm," I said. "Thanks." I went back to fiddling with my black rock, and a few minutes later we arrived at the museum.

* * *

As I entered the museum, I was immediately in awe because of how grand it was. That mayor a hundred years ago must have spared no expense to make Altomare rival Renaissance Europe. There were carvings, columns, statues, and a couple frescos. In the main open area, volunteers were already hard at work preparing for the gala tonight. To the side, there was a large section of the building had aisle upon aisle devoted to a vast library-like archive of preserved documents. In the open area along the walls and next to the archival shelves, as well as along the wall of the upper level, were relics, artifacts, and antiques important to Altomare's history. In the back was the massive structure that was the Defense Mechanism of Altomare.

"Well, I must go help with the setup," said Lorenzo. "You two may look around." Lorenzo then left to join the volunteers.

As Latias and I were walking to the center of the open area, I was looking all around the building. When we reached the middle, I looked down at the floor and said, "Oh, fossils. Are these the ones that…you know?" I crouched down to get a closer look.

"_Yeah," _she said, _"but there's more to the museum than fossils."_ I got up and walked with Latias to the back to see the D.M.A. When we got there, Latias was staring at it like she hated it. I didn't blame her; the device almost destroyed the city and was a reason for her brother's death. It looked odd, like it was some piece of metal work. It was almost like something that should be in some art museum rather than the world's most powerful weapon. I reached up to touch it when Latias said, _"Don't touch it."_

I lowered my hand and said, "Sorry." I looked up at it and started thinking about it. "In a way, it's like a metaphor. Built with the best intentions, but used for the worst reasons. Everything has a dark and light side. While protecting the city from the worst threats, it is at the same time the greatest treat to the very city it's protecting. Only a few people could ever step into this and not be corrupted by the power. Anyone who steps in might become the city's savior, but they can also become death, the destroyer of worlds."

"_That's __really good,"_ said Latias.

I looked down from the D.M.A. and turned to look at Latias. "Yeah thanks, but I can't help but be amazed by the marvel of engineering."

Latias and I continued to look around the museum for a few hours. She would explain how the different artifacts were important to Altomare's history, and how the archive has a copy of almost everything written in or regarding Altomare. We would look at the different pieces of art, and she explained how on the wall with ornate engravings, there is an opening that plays music box cylinders. It, in a sense, made the museum a giant music box with the music being played throughout the museum. There were other people and tourists examining the museum and archive. The set-up for the gala was also going well. However, throughout most of my time there, I couldn't find any clue about the True Secret, and I wasn't about to examine the entire archive for hours just for a little clue.

* * *

"So what is this?" I ask when we get to an antique merry-go-round toy.

"_Well, it's a merry-go-round,"_ she said to answer my question.

"I figured that much out on my own," I said, "but what is so special about it?" It was a very nice, little merry-go-round that a little girl would entertain herself with by watching the tiny carved pokémon shaped seats go round and round. An interesting thing about it is that the top was made of four movable rings that had numbers zero through nine around each ring. They could be turned to make any number from 0000 to 9999. The tiny carved seats that looked like pokémon each had their own number, which was from one to thirty-one. On the bottom of the antique was another movable ring, but instead of numbers, there was the twelve months written. There was also a movable golden window that you could move to be in front of the different numbered seat. If you moved the golden piece, it would look like it was marking a date, if you read it from bottom to top.

"_It's a music box," _said Latias, answering my question. _"You would have to wind it up on the side to play it."_

I saw that Lorenzo was approaching us. "I decided to take a break," he said. "I see that you like the musical merry-go-round. It was made by architect Donato Luccio as a gift to the city's mayor's youngest daughter on the day he finished the renovations. Go ahead, play it."

I rotated the movable rings and golden piece to read my Teacher's birthday, April 22, 1960. I wound up the music box all the way, and it starts to play. The merry-go-round turned and played a rather pretty tune. It sounded like a more classical tune. It started slow, but eventually got faster. I started listening to the beat. "One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three," I said. "You can waltz to this." The tune lasted for three or so minutes.

"Yes, it is a nice tune," said Lorenzo. "My mother used to hum it to me when I was a boy. The song is called 'Merry-Go-Round of Life'."

"_That's fitting for a merry-go-round music box," _added Latias. _"Uh, Esteban, what's wrong?"_

I had been staring at who had just walked into the museum. "Aw crap, it's Una. Doesn't she ever just stay away?"

"_Who?" _asked Latias.

"I didn't tell you about what happened at the garden, did I?" I said. "Long story short, she's the one who's been causing trouble lately. Part of this cult, Order of Arceus. Have you heard of them?"

"_I don't know of any cult,"_ said Latias, _"but Arceus is a god to pokémon."_

"Ah," I said, "that's where I heard of Arceus before. My Teacher once talked about the pokémon god, creator of all things bright and beautiful. I thought it was a load of bull. God did that, not Arceus." Latias gave me a death like stare. "No offence," I added and pointed to my golden cross. "Now if you don't mind, I have someone to talk to about a secret." I left Latias and Lorenzo and walked towards Una.

She was standing next to the fossils, and she hasn't yet noticed me. I walked up behind her to she what she was doing. "Where is it?" she murmured to herself. She seemed to be looking for something and she looked down at the paper she was holding. It was the Italian document I saw on her boat the day before that read "volontà e testamento dell'ultimo" on the top. I didn't notice it when I glanced at it yesterday, but under the title read "Donato Luccio".

"How do you seem to always go where I go?" She didn't seem startled by me, or at least she didn't show it if she was, and she rolled up her paper.

"The only reason I am not killing you right now is because I don't want to make a scene in the open," she said coolly and then turned to me, "and we are in the same place because of similar interests."

"Yeah," I said, "could you please tell me what the True Secret is? You seem to know, and I hate guessing."

"Why should I tell you?" she answered, "You seem competent enough to figure it out yourself."

"I'll find out eventually," I told her, "but I need to know so I can stop you. If you got to this secret first, then I doubt that happiness and sunshine will follow. I know you wouldn't want that, because I know how you feel deep down."

She tensed up a bit and she began to breathe a bit harder. She quickly calmed down again. "You seem to have taken my advice about history and the unobvious questions. After all, that is why you are here. Keep it up, and you will find what the secret is soon. Now I must go." She then left and started examining the museum's artifacts.

As I was heading back to Latias, Lorenzo was heading back to the set-up for the gala. "Hey, Lorenzo wait!" I said to him. He stopped and I ran over to him. "Lorenzo, can you please tell me what 'volontà e testamento dell'ultimo' means?"

"Sure," he said, "It means 'last will and testament' in Italian. Why"

"Just following a lead," I said to him as I headed to Latias, who was still by the merry-go-round, "Just following a lead."

"_So what was that for?"_ asked Latias. I started to walk into the vast library-like archive and she followed me.

"I needed to find out something. You said that they keep a copy of all things Altomare in the archive, right?" I said as I went down a few more aisles.

"_Yes, that is why it is so big," _she said. _"Did you find what you were looking for then?"_

"Not exactly, but I did get a consolation prize," I said. I then went down an aisle labeled "Legal Documents". Latias was still following me. I then climbed up a bit on one of those sliding ladders for tall book cases. I then pushed on the case so that I would slide faster. "Let's see…L's…LU's…Lucario…Ah ha!"

Latias caught up with me and asked, _"So what is this consolation prize?"_

What I was looking for was behind a little locked glass door for preservation from the elements, but with a little aura and some finagling, I picked the lock and reached in for the rolled up document. "That prize would be a clue to what I was looking for," I said. I closed the little glass door and slid down the ladder. I unrolled it and showed it to Latias. "To be exact, it is the will of architect Donato Luccio. Just like it helped the evil trainer years ago and now the Order of Arceus, it will lead us to the True Secret of Altomare."

* * *

**So, as you can see, with clues comes questions**. **I know, I slightly altered the history a bit to fit the story, but I had to for it to work.**

**Good? Bad? Loved it? Hated it? Yes? No? Please tell me in a review, I heart reviews**. **I accept all kinds of reviews (positive, negative, constructive criticisms, etc.), except flames or spams. I don't like flames or spams.**

**I also need to know how I can improve this chapter. I need to figure out how to write it so it reads better, so please tell me.**

**Chapter 8 may or may not come this month. School starts in almost a week...meh.**

**Thanks for reading, and _please_ review!**


	8. Five Years Previous

**After MONTHS of waiting and a number of writer's blocks, I finally accomplished my goal: I uploaded Chapter 8 before 2009...by a day! Yay! (wind blows and some tumbleweed goes by) Well, hopefully there are some people still reading. It's only been like half a year. However, this chapter is also somewhat like a filler, so I will also update chapter 9 today. Sorry for the ridiculous wait. I am currently also having a serious case of writer's block for chapter 12, but hopefully that will be resolved soon.**

**NOTE: **"Quotations mark Dialogue"; _"Italics with quotations mark telepathy"_, _'Italics with just apostaphes mark thoughts'_

**Disclaimer: Seriously, do I really have to say I don't own pokemon? I don't think anyone will think I do. But just in case: I don't own pokemon. If I did, it would be more awesome than it is now.**

**Now on with it! Finally!  
**

**

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Chapter Eight:  
Five Years Previous**

From the museum, I "borrowed" the will and headed back to the garden. The whole way there, Latias (still in human form) kept complaining that I shouldn't "borrow" century-old artifacts from the museum without permission; especially since the chances the will would be significant to discovering the Secret were slim to none. No matter, I convinced her that it was the only lead we've got and we need to do something.

"To hell with the Rules!" I said to Latias while walking down a canal. Latias was walking behind me and we just passed by a startled woman and her Pokémon. "Excuse me," I said to her as I passed by.

"_Can't we just study it at the museum?"_ she asked me telepathically while insisting we go back. I had the will stuffed into my duster so no one would see it.

"No we can't, because in a couple hours we would be kicked out anyway because of the gala anyway." We turned down an alleyway so that we could have a bit more privacy and walked down it with the Legendary behind me.

"_Look, I want to stop these Order people too, but can't we do it in a way that doesn't involve breaking laws?"_ she asked as we went deeper into the alley and stopped.

I turned to her and looked directly into her eyes. "Latias, this is the only lead I…we have. I admit, the chances that it is just a will with nothing special about it are extremely high, but we can't just do nothing as the Order tries to possibly finish what that evil trainer tried to accomplish all those years ago. It could be worse than what could've happened five years ago."

Latias stared at me and mentally sighed, _"I guess that ever since my brother died, I tried to act more like him and follow the rules, but if he were here now, he would agree with you. If there was any chance that this will might help us reach the secret before the Order, then he would take it."_ She walked down the alley silently and I followed her until she stopped at a wall and back to me. _"You really do remind me of him, you know, and it's more than just your eyes that remind me too."_

She then turned back and literally walked through the wall. I had to blink a couple times and wait a few seconds before I realized that it was a trick wall. I walked up to it and reached out my hand, which just went through the wall like air. I then walked through it and there was a moment of suffocating darkness, before I reappeared in the garden.

In the garden, Latias had turned back into her normal, red-and-white dragon, pokémon form. She asked to see the will, and I handed it to her. She soon asked if I knew Italian, to which I answered no, and she surprised me yet again by saying she will translate it to English for me. Apparently, living in a city named "Altomare", that seemed to have been made in the Renaissance, with a friend named "Lorenzo" all your life can make one pick up on the language pretty easily.

Latias took the will and flew up to one of the trees to do her translations. I was left with nothing to do, so I sat on a slope of grass and laid down. There was a soft breeze and the afternoon sun was warm. I tried to stay alert in case Una or some other Order member came back, but the sound of the chimes, wind, and water made my mind wander and my body sleep.

* * *

I felt someone kick me in the side. "Wake up, sleepy head!" I heard someone say. I turned over and looked and saw my teacher standing next to me.

"Teacher?" I asked groggily. "What the hell?"

"You already slept two hours in, and I tried everything else," she said as she walked out of the tent. I stumbled up and walked out. "Seriously," she continued, "you could out sleep a snorlax if I gave you the chance."

I looked out. It was still dark. "Two hours late? You wanted me up at like four in the morning?"

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly as she was clearing the campsite some. "Today, we start your defensive training. I believe that you got the offensive stuff down pat, so now I thought we get an early start today before breakfast. Isn't that exciting? Now get warmed up"

"Oh, joy," I said sarcastically as I tried to wake up some more. I tried to relax and let my aura flow after my night's sleep so that I could use it at a moment's notice. My Teacher and I were out on one of the many islands in the sea east of the Hoenn mainland. We were in a clearing near a cliff that faced the south east. It was around five in the morning so it was still dark out. My Teacher liked to do the morning exercises in the crisp cool of the morning before breakfast to get ready for the day. She was definitely a morning person.

My Teacher wore clothes not unlike mine. She would always say "function before style". She had on worn black boots and blue jeans on that were held up a trainer's belt, which, unlike mine, had a couple pokéballs on it. She wore a loose red shirt and a brown leather coat. It was not quite a duster, but it was long like one and it got the job done. She had green eyes and brown hair that was in a ponytail. She too had on tight gloves and staff similar to mine with some runes on them. It can be hard to tell how old she is judging from her looks. She looks like she could be anywhere between 30 and 50, but if you were to look at her eyes carefully, it would look like she has learned and experienced more than anyone twice her age could ever do.

Once I got my aura flowing, I turned to face my teacher. However, as soon as I turned to face her, I was bombarded by about half a dozen aura spheres. As I fell to the ground, my teacher laughed, "What the hell was that, Esteban?" she asked between laughs. "You are supposed to defend yourself when using defensive auramancy, not stand around like an idiot."

I got up. "Come on, Teacher, you know that this is my first defensive training and you didn't even warn me!"

"Like anyone is going to warn you before they attack, Esteban," she laughed again. "But I will try to go easy on you just this once. Try to focus on forming a solid wall between you and the attack, or a shield in other words." She then let fly another half dozen spheres of energy at me.

I instinctively let fly a few aura spheres of my own to stop some of my Teacher's attacks and I jumped out of the way of the rest.

I thought I did well but my teacher yelled out to me, "I said _shields_ not _spheres_! I said defensive auramancy, not using offensive auramancy to cancel out my attacks!"

"What?" I asked back. "I blocked them didn't I?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's try this…" She snapped her fingers, and I felt an awkward sensation climb up my body. She tossed a couple more aura spheres. I tried to block them again with aura spheres, but nothing happened. I realized, as I was hit once more with aura spheres, that what my teacher did was block my aura from flowing out.

"Not fair, you blocked my aura!" I yelled out.

"I only blocked your offensive auramancy, you can still use the defensive stuff," she said. It is pretty advanced stuff learning how to block a certain kind of aura from leaving one's body, and I was learning how to make shields. I had a lot to learn. "You can't learn to defend yourself if all you use is an offense. Sometimes the situations call for shields that block multiple attacks that you can't stop with a good offense. You should be happy I'm not using focused blasts"

"Crap," I muttered as I got ready for another bombardment. "Focus on creating a wall," I echoed. My Teacher's attacks came and I put up my arms and my gloves glowed as I focused on creating a wall. The air became slightly wavy, and I thought I noticed the aura spheres slow down a little bit. However, the attacks were hardly phased and I once again fell to the ground.

"Well," my teacher said, "we got…something. Try and keep it up." I was glad that my Teacher also noticed the "shield" despite how pathetic it was. I got up again and tried to think up another strategy. My teacher always said to try and use your surroundings to your advantage. My Teacher's attacks came after me again. I ran out of the way. "What's up with that?" she asked smiling. She then started throwing even more spheres at me as I ran towards my side. The onslaught of attacks almost caught up to me when I reached a loose area of sand. I dived down into the sand to avoid the spheres of energy. I grabbed a large handful of sand and threw it into the air before my Teacher could toss more aura spheres. If I couldn't make a solid wall out of thin air, I could at least try using sand. Before the particles of sand could fall to the ground, I put my hand out and focused again on making a shield. This time, a glow surrounded the sand particles and they floated in the air. As my Teacher's attack reached the sand shield, most of the attack was blocked, but all of the sand and some of the attack's energy came right at me. I covered my face to make sure none of the sand got in my eyes.

As the cloud of sand dispersed, I saw my Teacher clapping. "Now that is what I am talking about!" She walked up to me. "Not the kind of shield I had in mind, but I like the creativity. Now let's practice a few more times before breakfast, but I don't want you start using sand as a crutch for making shields. As you saw, it can backfire on you." She chuckled.

Once we saw the glow of the sun on the horizon, we decided to have breakfast. I made breakfast as usual. It consisted of some freshly picked berries with some sweet bread that we got from a bakery last time we were in town. To drink, we had some fresh berry juice. "We're out of meat," I told my Teacher and I handed over her plate of berries and bread. We sat on the edge of the cliff eating breakfast.

"Well, if we don't go into town soon, we could just as easily hunt something," she suggested.

"I guess," I agreed.

As we ate, she complimented me on picking such good berries. "This will definitely help out with more training later in the day." She said after taking a bite of the bread. "By the way, you did pretty good for your first shield lesson, but there is more to a good defense than a good shield, just so you know."

"Thanks," I said. We continued to chat idly as we ate. My Teacher planned the day ahead as we talked. Just before the sun was about to break the horizon as I was cleaning up, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Out way past the horizon, a very thin blue beam of light was shooting into the sky that wasn't sunlight. "Teacher," I said, "do you see that?"

She stared at it for long while and then sighed and closed her eyes while grabbing the golden cross around her neck. "It is the light of sacrifice. A very powerful being just gave its life to save many people." She then started whispering a prayer.

I waited until she was done to ask, "How do you know?"

"I have seen many things, Esteban, including something like this once before, except I was much closer to the beam then." After a few more minutes, the sun started to rise, and the beam dissipated. She then turned to me and said, "You should know that if you were to ever to get to a situation that meant life or death, think of others first, even if it kills you. It is more noble to die saving a life than it is to live knowing you could have saved them." She then held on to her cross and added, "Always know that just because you gave your life to someone doesn't mean that it is over. Remember that." She then smiled and got up.

* * *

"_Esteban, wake up, I'm done with the translation."_

I opened my eyes and saw Latias hovering over me. It was already dusk, as I could see the sky was dark blue with some stars coming out, but there was still orange-red sunlight in the west. I got up from the ground, fumbling a bit as I did, and brushed the grass off my back.

"Well, that's good, but I think that we should look at it inside as it's dark now," I yawned. I decided to take my time walking to the house to think about my dream. _'My God,'_ I thought, _'I just remembered that day. It was five years ago. I was…16 then. That beam…it must have been Latios. It was the right direction. Amazing how fate works that way.'_ I then grabbed my Teacher's cross around my neck. "Just because you give your life to someone doesn't mean that it is over," I said aloud. I then pulled out the glowing blue jewel that was the Soul Dew from my leather pouch. The light coming from it was magnificent in the twilit garden. "I have proof of that." I then put the Soul Dew back into the pouch and headed to the house.

* * *

**Now to the next chapter...**

**Like It? Hate it? Questions? Give me a review! I accept all!**


	9. Night at the Museum

**See, I told you there would be two new chapters. This one isn't filler. In fact, this chapter is the longest yet. Thanks again, for putting up with the wait. All notes and disclaimers from the previous chapter apply because I am too lazy to write them down again. Happy New Years, Y'all!**

**Now on with it!  
**

**

* * *

Chapter Nine:  
Night at the Museum**

_To all of whom this may concern,_

_As I, __Donato Luccio,__ write this, I feel as if my time is coming soon. It has been an interesting time upon this Earth. Not many can say that they have been in charge of restoring an entire city, let alone one floating on water. An interesting life indeed. I accepted the project to restore the great city of Altomare only because I needed the money. However, it soon became my life's meaning. I felt as if I was not only bringing a city to new greatness, but also protecting it somehow. I feel as if this one project meant more to me then the rest of my work combined. Therefore, I can not accept the payment that the gracious Mayor has offered me. I hereby give all my work I have done to the City of Altomare, to the city and its people. May you all too protect this city as I have._

_During my time working, I was often given free time when all was going well with nothing for me to do. In that time I have constructed a little music box carousel. I have found that the youngest of the Mayor's daughters was very entertained by the box and its music. So much so that she would always ask to see it when she saw me. I believe that it is only fair what I should do with it when I am no longer here. I hereby give the music box carousel to her, and may she give it to the city when she too has passed. May the day when you find it necessary to open the box never come. _

The will continued on like that for several more paragraphs. Giving a little story before saying who gets whatever object that he was talking about. His family got his money. His love got his most prized Pokémon. His friend and fellow architect Godey from Alamos Town got an old book and some blueprints on how to make large buildings into musical instruments. Architects seemed to have a thing for music.

I; however, got nothing out of this will. I read over Latias' translation multiple times, but I couldn't find any hint at what the true secret was. I opened my mouth to say something when she said telepathically, _"And yes, I did make sure nothing was lost in translation."_

I froze for a second, then closed my mouth and muttered, "Psychics…" which caused Latias to chuckle a bit. She was in human form because her pokémon form would be too large to fit in the in Lorenzo's kitchen. Well, not comfortably anyway. Lorenzo and Bianca were gone at the Gala which had already started. It was around nine at night then. "I guess you were right," I sighed. "It is just a will. Back to square one, I guess"

I leaned back in my chair with the chair's two front feet in the air, and I was using the table to balance myself. I had to think. I pulled out my black rock from my pocket and started fiddling with it again. Latias gave me a weird look. "My teacher told me to do this to teach me how to focus," I said pointing at the rock in my hand. "I shoot extremely small and focused blasts of aura into this rock every time I tap it to rearrange the atom structure. I now do it whenever I am thinking really hard about something." Latias nodded in understanding, and I went back to my fiddling and thinking.

I was thinking about what to do because I had no leads left. I was thinking for a few minutes when I suddenly lost balance of my chair and fell back. I was reaching out to the kitchen counter and table to catch myself, but all I managed to do was knock some papers over. Luckily, I didn't hit my head when I hit the ground. Latias couldn't help but laugh, but I soon joined in with laughing. I got up and picked up the chair. I also picked up the various papers I had knocked over and put them on the table.

I sat down and glanced at each one, not really paying attention to the words until I saw one of the papers was a flyer about the Gala. I read it over out loud, "Let's see, 'The Night at the Museum. All Altomare citizens are invited to attend a celebration of Altomare's rich history at the Altomare Museum of History. Cost of attendance is one-hundred dollars to help fund historical preservation and discovery in Altomare and other historical cities. Please RSVP by June 1. Sponsored by the Altomare Museum of History and…'" I had to reread the last few words to make sure I was reading it right. "Holy crap! '…Sponsored by the Altomare Museum of History and the OA Historical Society.' Latias, OA. This whole gala is sponsored by the freaking Order of Arceus!"

I handed the flyer over to Latias who read it over. Meanwhile, my mind was putting things together. _'Una was at the museum today looking for something. She was using the will. There has to be something I missed. They are sponsoring this gala to…to what?'_ I thought about it for a moment. _'The best way to steal something is to steal it right out from under them…especially when everyone and their grandma is distracted by a fancy party.'_

By then, Latias finished going over the flyer. _"You're probably right. It is a perfect distraction,"_ said Latias, who had obviously been listening to my thoughts. _"But the question is what are they even trying to steal?"_

I didn't answer. I was quickly going over the will to see if I missed anything. "Let's see. Notarized on 20 November 1898. Blah, blah, blah. Carousel given to daughter. Blueprints given to friend. Blah, blah, blah. Signed by Donato Luccio on 19 June 1895." I sighed. "I still don't see anything."

"_Why was it notarized three years after he wrote it?" _asked Latias.

"Well, probably because he never got around to it." I answered. However, just then, I remembered something, and it all clicked. I reread a section of the will to confirm my suspicion. "Latias, get ready. We have a party to crash."

* * *

About an hour later I was standing outside the museum. The open area outside the museum had a fair amount of people. They looked like they were enjoying the night and fresh air. Even though it was summer, Altomare's Mediterranean climate gave it comfortably warm nights and there was a nice breeze giving the air a salty yet cool feeling.

The party-goers were all dressed formally. I had changed from my usual travel wear of duster, baggy pants, baggy shirt, and boots into something more clean and appropriate. I was not some schnooty-tooty, hoity-toity person that goes to formal galas, and anyways, I was a nonconformist so I didn't care about how I looked. However, I didn't want to draw too much attention, so I had to leave my staff back at the house. If anything went horribly wrong, I could not do any heavy-duty auramancy, but at least I still had my gloves. I didn't have the will either, but I had memorized what I needed to know.

"_Well I thought you were going to try to pull off the 'Altomare Elite' look," _I heard a telepathic voice say. I turned and saw Latias in her human form.

"Well, I must say I am surprised too," I said. "I thought that you would be coming inside the gala."

"_I figured that it would be odd having two identical people at the party,"_ she said,_ "Especially because Bianca doesn't have a twin. So I decided to stay by the museum in case anything went wrong. Just so you know, there is an exit to the roof in case you get into serious trouble. I'll be waiting there"_

"Thanks for the tip," I told her.

With that I started sneaking into the gala. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to get in. The guards keeping watch didn't appear to be the museum's normal employees. I got a closer look and judging from the logo on their uniforms, I could tell that they were all OA grunts. Thankfully, they fit the standard stereotype of grunts in that they weren't the brightest people around. I practically waltzed right past them and they barely noticed.

Inside the gala was actually pretty nice for a cover up to a secret operation that Una was up to. The music played was mostly classical sounding played by small orchestra. There were waiters carrying around trays of tiny foods and champagne. Some of the couples were waltzing to the music. Some were socializing. There was a stage set up near the DMA were some of the important people, like Lorenzo, were sitting and talking. Overall, most people seemed to be enjoying themselves, and even I thought it was nice even though it was hoity-toity.

I was walking through the party looking for the artifact the Order and I came here to get, when I bumped into Bianca. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to…Bianca?" I said as I bumped into her a bit.

"Esteban?" she asked in a whisper. "What are you doing here? You're lucky that Ross went to go get me something to drink. Where's Latias?" Bianca was in a golden dress with her hair let down.

"Bianca, the Order of Arceus, the people who attacked us in the garden, is the one sponsoring this party. They are here to get something, and I came to get it first. Latias is outside in case anything goes wrong."

She was about to say something back when Ross, dressed in a tuxedo, came back carrying two glasses of the bubbling wine. "Bianca, I got you some champagne and…Oh, Esteban. Glad you could come! What were you two talking about?"

"About the gala," Bianca could say before I answered. "It is very nice. I like the music and food, right Esteban?"

She gave me a look and put some emphasis on the last few words which meant she was trying to say "Ross is not clued in about Latias, the OA, or any of the secrets about Altomare. Don't bring it up!" So I just nodded and agreed with her.

"That is just great," he said. He then turned to Bianca and said, "While I was getting us the drinks, I heard them say that your grandfather and some woman in charge of whatever group sponsoring this party are going to speak in about…" He looked at his watch, "Oh, right about now."

Just then, I heard a sound for everyone's attention come from the stage. I turned and saw Lorenzo at a microphone giving an introduction. I didn't pay attention because I wanted to get to my goal while everyone was distracted. I made my way through the crowd as everyone listened to the curator. I remembered where the antique was and I found in within two minutes.

It was the antique merry-go-round that I messed with earlier that day. It was the one where you could make it say any date. As I approached it, my ears listened to the last part of Lorenzo's introduction. "…and here is the person responsible for this gala tonight. Miss Teresa Berardi." I turned and looked at the stage and saw a woman in a grey-pinstriped pant suit walk up to the microphone. She must have been the Order leader.

I didn't listen to anything she said in her speech, but finished my way to the merry-go-round. I got their and re-examined it with its golden window, ornate pokémon seats, and numbers and months along the side and top. I moved the rings to read the date Luccio signed the will, June 19, 1895. I wound up the music box, and it started playing the song, which just happened to fit the kind of music that was being played at the gala. After three minutes of listening to it, nothing happened. I sighed, but then felt a pressure on my side.

I turned and saw Una dressed in a scarlet dress standing right next to me looking at the music box with her .40 caliber pressed on my side, so close that I had no way of shielding myself if she shot. "Una," I said, "imagine meeting you here. Have you thought about my offer? I can still help you. It is not too late for you to join…"

"How do you open it she said?" She said quickly, interrupting me and ignoring my comment.

"I thought you would know? After all, you had the will longer."

"My will hasn't been preserved in a museum. The dates have worn away and are unreadable. I saw you take the will out of the archives, and I let you do it all for me. Now open it." She wasn't talking loudly, and even then a couple people glanced at us, but Una had the gun hidden.

There was no use in arguing; I didn't want to have too much attention drawn to us. I put in the notarization date of the will, November 20, 1898. I wound it up, but instead of playing the song, the central part of the box popped open.

"Very good, Esteban," she said. Pulled up the central cylinder of the box and pulled out a copper object before closing the box once more.

I looked at it. "It's just a music box cylinder. It's what has the song on it that the box plays."

Una started to walk to a wall with ornate engravings on it that was to the back of all the people at the gala. I remembered that it was the one with the music box cylinder player. "It's more than just a music box cylinder, Esteban. It is a key, and its keyhole is the player on the wall. It should unlock the next step to reaching the Secret."

We got to the wall, and Una was about to put it into the opening for the cylinder. I then said, "Let me see it," before she put it in. It read "'Merry-Go-Round of Life' – May it lead you in a Waltz through history," along the top of it. "I don't think that whatever it unlocks is here." She gave me a questioning look. "It would make it to easy. I think that it is telling us how to find it. Do you know how to dance?"

She didn't say anything. I placed the cylinder into the wall, and it started winding up. I looked to my side, and saw one of the archive's aisles. I grabbed Una's hand and put my other hand around her waist. She gave me a shocked expression, but then the music started playing throughout the museum. Immediately, I started waltzing through the archive muttering, "One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three…" Una immediately understood the meaning to my madness, and started moving along with me.

Throughout the time we were dancing through the aisles, there wasn't a time we had to choose which way to turn. If we came up to a wall, there just happened to be only one way to go. It was as if the set up of the archives was designed to have a path that was easily followed for this song. The width of the aisles we were going through also seemed wider than the others the make room for the turning the dance involves.

Una was quite the dancer, and she too seemed surprised at how well I was doing. We waltzed to the beat of the song, not going faster or slower. When the song stopped, we were along one of the walls on the other side of the archives. We stopped and looked at each other eyes. The song was quite nice. We started moving closer together when there was a clicking sound. We froze for a second before stepping back away from each other and looked at the wall.

We were both blushing.

The clicking sound was followed by another sound and then a small section of the wall in front of us turned around revealing a hidden leather-bound book. I picked up the book, and no more than a minute passed after it had opened, it had closed. "I guess that we had to waltz for as long as that music box played to find where this book was hidden, and then we had only a short amount of time to get the book after it was revealed before it would be hidden again," said the ever-observant Una. "Damn, Luccio was clever."

I was about to open it when I heard someone clapping. I turned and saw the pinstriped Order leader. She had platinum blond hair and green eyes. She appeared to be around 28 to 30 years old. Her hair was in a bun held together by two sticks and had some bangs coming down.

"Sister!" Una said in surprise.

"Una, you seem so surprised to see me," the blond woman said in response.

"Sister?" I asked while not seeing any resemblance. They just ignored me.

"I just thought that you would be staying in the gala area, and I would get the book," said Una.

"Well I was, but I just had to see this man you just waltzed off with when that song started," said Una's sister. She then turned to me with a cold smile, "You must be Esteban. You have been quite the nuisance recently."

"Well, I try," I said to her. "Now who are you?"

She quietly laughed. "Forgive me. My name is Tetra, leader of the Order of Arceus and Una's older sister. You see, we have been planning this for quite some time now, and we really need that book. Hand it over, and I just might let you live."

She said that so coldly, matter-of-factly, and nearly emotionless that it made shiver. What made me freeze momentarily was what looked like some sort of .50 Caliber that she pulled out with a silencer attached to it, and I had no idea how she was able to hide it in that suit of hers without being noticed. It was in that moment that Una was able to slip the book out of my hand. She then handed it to Tetra.

She opened it and flipped through the pages smiling. "Ah, finally," she said and closed the book. "This is an important book Esteban. It is the Architect's journal, notes, blueprints, and sketches. All the secrets he found and hid are right here in this book, including how to reach the Secret we've been looking for." Tetra then put her .50 caliber down and said, "Now leave, before I change my mind."

I didn't move. All I said was, "Just like that. No going back on your word and shooting me anyway?" I wasn't complaining, but I couldn't let her have that book. I needed to get it back.

"Esteban, do you think that low of me? We just met after all," she said smiling. "I've been called liar, murderer, bitch," she said that last one with considerable annoyance, "but I've always been honest when I give my word."

"There's a first for everything," I muttered under my breath. I backed up against the wall and put my hand behind my back so no one would se the aura I was focusing into it.

Tetra stiffened. "What did you say?"

"Nothing…bitch," I muttered again.

Tetra drew her gun and pressed it against my abdomen, clearly enraged. I loved pushing buttons. Even though this one looked like I was wishing for a death sentence, I needed her to be enraged and put her guard down. "Say that one more time!" she said to me sternly with her smile gone. Apparently, she couldn't take much criticism.

After that, I immediately brought my right hand, which was focused with as much aura as I could and the glove was glowing brightly with energy, up and rammed my hand into the side of Tetra's head. She didn't see it coming. On contact, I released about half the energy I built up because any more might have crushed her skull. I released enough energy to hurt her without causing any serious injury. You could hear the impact and almost feel the pain. The force made her fall and put her hands to her head, which was bleeding, and she conveniently dropped the book and .50 caliber, which was quite large and heavy. I grabbed both in my left hand and had my right was facing Una who had just pulled out her .40 caliber.

I heard Tetra grab a radio and yell into it, "Guards! Block all exits NOW!"

I immediately ran through the archives. Shots from Una's gun flew past me, but I put a shield up behind me. As I ran, I hid Tetra's .50 caliber in my duster's pocket. A few more shots flew by. If it weren't for the shield, Una would have already killed me. I was nearly out of breath by the time I reached the end of the archives back at the gala. I stopped before I came out of the aisle. I looked to the exit and saw the Order grunts blocking the way, and the party-goers were oblivious. I turned and saw Una at the other end of the aisle pointing her .40 caliber at me. She was hesitating. She had a clear shot, and I even put down the shield, but she just lowered her gun and looked away. I could swear I saw a tear. I looked behind me and I saw innocent party-goers dancing behind me. I took the opportunity to go into the crowd.

I soon found Bianca. "Hey, Bianca, where's Ross?"

"Bathroom, why? What happened to you?" she asked. I was breathing hard, and some of Tetra's blood was on my sleeve.

"Long story, I just need to know how to get to the roof." I said. Bianca stared at me for a second.

"There are stairs on the second floor," she finally said.

"Thanks." I started heading there when Bianca grabbed me.

She looked worried. "You didn't just…" her voice trailed off and looked at my sleeve.

"No, I didn't. I could never do that" I said to her. She seemed relived and let me go. I headed to the second floor while avoiding the guards. I got up their and found the stairs heading to the roof clear of grunts. I almost reached the stairs when Una got in my way. "Okay, seriously, how did you get here?"

"Stairs in the archives," she said. "The book, please."

"Una, we both know that you don't want to do this. Just a few minutes ago can proof of that."

"I didn't shoot because I didn't want to get noticed."

"You didn't shoot because you didn't want to risk hurting some innocent bystander behind me. Una, there is good in you." I came up closer to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Why can't you see it? Whatever it is you and your sister are trying to accomplish here is not good. Trust me, I can help." She shrugged off my hand but didn't say anything. She seemed to be deep in thought about what I said and what she did.

She stepped aside to let me go up the stairs, but halfway to the roof, I heard her say into the radio, "He's on the roof." I ran the rest of the way up.

The night was cool and crisp and breezy on the roof. I ran to the edge where I saw Latias. "Latias…we have to…go _now_!" I said out of breath and panting from running up all those stairs. Then Tetra, Una, and a group of grunts ran onto the roof with their guns out except for Una who was looking away. They also brought out a variety of pokémon ready to attack on command. I had my hand outstretched at them with the glove glowing.

"The book or else Mr. Esteban," Tetra yelled out. One of her hands was still on her head which was still bleeding some. She somehow managed to get another gun

I brought my hand down, but then I created the blue flame like I did in the Garden when demonstrating aura. I put the book over it. "This book seems important," I yelled to them. "It would be a shame if it burned away taking its secrets with it. You don't want that would you?"

Tetra had some fear in her eyes when she saw the book so close to the blue flame. She lowered her gun and ordered the grunts to do the same. "Now Mr. Esteban, would you really want to do that? Destroy all that history? Aren't you curious at what the secret is? Give me the book, and I will tell you."

"Do you know what I figure? I figure that I could find out on my own." I then thought _'Latias, I know you can hear this. Get ready to turn into your true form. We need a quick get away.'_

She nodded meaning she understood. "As much as I would love to give this book to you, I can't just let in fall into the hands of someone like you."

I quickly turned around and so did Latias. Tetra saw what we were about to do and yelled, "Get him NOW!" Latias and I jumped off the roof just before the bullets, flamethrowers, waterguns, and dozens of other attacks would have hit us. Latias quickly turned into her true form, turned both of us invisible, and flew at supersonic speeds over the city.

I could barely hang on. My arms were around her long neck, but at that speeds and improper holding, I was slipping. She did a quick turn down into the streets and flew just above the water. I managed to slip the book into my duster to prevent it from getting damaged from water or anything. She was navigating through the city with sharp turns that nearly threw me off every time. Then we dived into the canal, and the force of entering the water made me let go, but I managed to grab a hold of her wings. She seemed to be able to manage swimming as well as she had flying, but she couldn't do it at supersonic speeds. We entered a hidden underwater tunnel as I was almost out of air. We then emerged out of the water and I was brought up about six yards before I fell off of Latias onto the ground of the Garden.

She seemed to have genuinely enjoyed the whole experience as she was smiling and laughing. I was pretty sure that I had some sort of flailing injuries on my legs from the impromptu escape. I was gasping for air while lying on the ground. I took the book out and set it beside me. "That…is why…I hate…flying," I panted. Latias couldn't help but laugh.

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**A new antagonist and another clue to the Secret. I would say that it must have been a pretty busy night for them.**

**To prevent any dissapointments, I will not say when the next chapter will be up.**

**If there is any way I can improve this or the last chapter, please tell me.**

**Love it? Hate it? Questions? Give a review! I accept all!**

**Happy New Years again!  
**


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